


Arrows and Psyche

by MiriRainbowitz



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-22 11:19:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4833452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiriRainbowitz/pseuds/MiriRainbowitz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or, the Olicity Eros and Psyche au no one asked for but I'm writing anyway</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Oliver watched as his two targets walked towards each other, the woman too absorbed in her cell phone to look up, and the man too busy looking at the sky to look down. As they drew closer, Oliver grabbed an arrow from his quiver and nocked it, waiting for just the right moment to release it.

The man stumbled over a rough patch in the sidewalk and fell straight onto the woman. Oliver would have winced at the impact as they hit the ground, but they were in position, so Oliver released the arrow, which went straight through both of their hearts.

People started to gather around the couple, who were both pretty bruised but otherwise unharmed, and very much about to start falling in love with each other, if the looks on their faces were any indication.

Satisfied that his work here was done, Oliver took off. After all, the day was young, and the god of love had plenty more people to put arrows in today.

 

“Felicity, wake up,” came Sara’s voice.

“G’way,” Felicity mumbled back, burrowing deeper into her blankets.

“There’s already 5 people outside,” Sara replied, sitting down on the bed. “C’mon, are you going to disappoint your admirers?”

“If you’re gonna stay here, can you at least make sure _they_ go away?” Felicity asked tiredly. “I’ll give you chocolate.”

“With an incentive like that, how can I say no?” replied Sara teasingly. “What should I tell them?”

“Tell them I’m sick,” Felicity answered shortly, and felt Sara get off the bed. A second later, Felicity heard her bedroom door close.

After a minute of lying in bed, Felicity stretched and groped around for her glasses. Once they were on, she ambled over to the security monitor and felt herself smile at the lack of admirers standing outside her house.

The smile lasted until she was brushing her teeth. The gods frowned on dishonesty, but Felicity hadn’t really been lying when she said she was sick. The truth was, some days she wasn’t even sure if staying alive was worth it. She couldn’t really go outside without almost completely disguising herself, otherwise she’d be swarmed by basically everyone. There were literally 6 people she could talk to in real life who wouldn’t fawn over her looks. She’d taken online-only classes the last two years of high school and all four years of college. She couldn’t even get a regular job that involved interacting with other people.

To top it off, Felicity was also desperately lonely. She couldn’t date- couldn’t trust that anyone would be interested in _her_ and not just her body- and she had almost no friends, and making sure no one online knew who she was also limited her friend pool.

Felicity was sick, all right- sick of her life.

When she got back to her room, Sara was sitting on her bed. “So, you’ll be pleased to know that someone has built a shrine to you,” she said.

“Ha ha ha, that’s not funny, Sara,” Felicity replied.

“No, I’m serious,” Sara said. “I told the guys you were sick, and one of them said that he’d just go and leave an offering at your shrine. So I asked him about it, and apparently someone took one of the abandoned shrines on Temple Road and dedicated it to you.”

Felicity walked over to one of her computers and ran a quick search and yep, there was an actual shrine to her. A wave of misery washed over her, and she started sobbing as she sank back onto her bed. She vaguely felt Sara’s arms wrap around her as she cried.

_What did I do?_ she thought. _Gods, goddesses, what did I do to deserve this?_


	2. Chapter 2

A ding from one of her computers alerted Felicity to the fact that someone had entered the house. She pulled up the security feed and saw Laurel standing in the entrance, taking off her coat and shoes. “Laurel, can you come up here please?” Felicity called.

“I’ll be up in a minute,” Laurel replied, and true to her word, she walked into Felicity’s room a minute later. “What’s up?”

“I’m assuming you’ve heard about the... shrine,” Felicity said, and Laurel nodded. “Let’s say, hypothetically, I- did some research and found out who actually set it up in the first place. Do you think digitally destroying their world would be- justified?”

A bunch of emotions crossed Laurel’s face before she spoke. “I can’t answer that,” she said. “As a lawyer, I’d say that ruining someone’s life like that is legally and morally wrong, but as your _sister_... I know this is causing you pain, and I can’t fault you for doing something about that.” 

“So...that’s not a yes or a no,” Felicity said.

“I’m staying silent on this,” Laurel replied. “In fact, I’m going to be so silent on this that it’ll be like we never even had this conversation, okay?”

“Okay,” Felicity answered, then turned back to her computers, tuning out the world outside of the screens in front of her and her fingers flying across the keyboards. Her father had always said that you didn’t need to go outside the law to find justice, but when it came to Felicity, the law had never really done all that great of a job protecting her, so could you really blame her for getting her own justice?

Everyone- or at least everyone who didn’t live under a rock- knew that Felicity Lance was the most beautiful woman alive. Almost no one knew that before Felicity had turned to a life of basically utter privacy and seclusion, she’d just _understood_ computers- how they worked, and how to use them. As it turned out, cutting off contact with most of the human race meant almost double the amount of time she spent with her computers, so at age 23, Felicity was famous- or rather, _infamous_ \- as a hacker, even though no one actually knew that “Smoke” was actually her.

Seriously, though- she was a genius, she was already good at computers, and she’d basically shut herself away from the world for almost a decade. It was hardly unexpected.

As a result, it had been all too easy to find the person who’d set up the godsforsaken shrine in the first place. Felicity had had a moment of doubt about whether she should go through with her decision, but a quick check had revealed that the only person who would suffer was the guy himself- he didn’t have a spouse or kids, and he wasn’t even in a relationship with anybody. Besides, no one would object to a somewhat sizable anonymous donation to the Starling City Police Department. 

When she was done, Felicity smiled. By “normal” standards, her day had probably been weird- she hadn’t left the house, she’d spent most of her time on her computers, and she’d even done some illegal and extremely morally dubious actions, but for her, that was a very good day. And to top it off, today was Friday, which meant her father was making steak for dinner.

 

Even before the simple act of leaving her house didn’t require sneaking out at night in a disguise, Felicity had never been the type of person to make daily visits to the gods’ and goddesses’ temples to offer sacrifices. She’d go once a month, and burn incense at the shrines at home. It was practical- her family could never have afforded to buy sacrifices every day of the year, and once she’d hit puberty, her family _definitely_ wouldn’t have been able to afford hiring bodyguards so she could leave the house.

About two weeks after she’d heard of the shrine, it was time for her monthly trip to Temple Hill to offer her various sacrifices. The trip was made a lot easier by the fact that the house she currently lived in, which she’d moved into when she was 16, had easy access to the sewers, which meant she could walk mostly unobserved to Temple Hill. Besides, given the fact that she wore a disguise, as well as went at a time of night when basically everyone was asleep, she probably wouldn’t run into anyone.

Her family knew that she was going to Temple Hill tonight, but Felicity tried to keep as quiet as possible as she made her way to the sewer entrance. It was just after 3 am, and she didn’t want to wake any of them up. 

When she got to the basement, she lifted up the grate and lowered herself into the sewer. Her disguise, as well as the various sacrifices her father had bought for her the other day, were stowed in a backpack, and the clothes she was wearing right now were designed to keep her as protected as possible from the smell and grime of the sewer.

Her route through the sewers, which she’d long since memorized, brought her to a women-only bathhouse a few blocks away from temple hill. The guard at the bathhouse tonight was Helena, who Felicity was friendly with. Well, “friendly with” was a bit of an exaggeration- Helena accepted bribes to not tell anyone about the fact that Felicity was technically trespassing and hanging up her sewer clothes while Felicity was out making her sacrifices. They never really talked, but then again, what both of them were doing was kind of illegal.

After she’d put on her disguise and left the bathhouse, it only took a few minutes for Felicity to reach Temple Hill. At this hour, even the priests and acolytes who tended the temples would be asleep, and for all that there were probably a lot of people still up and about at clubs, no one with two brain cells to rub together would even dare to bring their partying all the way over to here.

Usually, the only two deities that Felicity brought specialized sacrifices for were Athena and Hephaestus- the goddess of wisdom and the god of machines, which were the aspects of them that applied to her the most. Today, however, she’d brought a specialized sacrifice for Aphrodite- it wouldn’t do to anger her, and she could use some help with that area of her life. 

She got the non-specialized sacrifices out of the way first, then moved on to Athena and Hephaestus. Maybe it was just because she kind of considered them her patron deities, but Felicity really enjoyed their temples- there was a warm and welcoming feel to them. She always took a little longer with them, opting not to rush through the cursory prayers and take her time instead.

When she was done with Athena and Hephaestus, she went over to the temple of Aphrodite. As she walked in, she felt a chill descend. The temple, which was usually kept as clean and beautiful as its goddess, had an air of neglect- the floor was dusty, the aroma of burned incense no longer hung stiflingly in the air, and when she got to the altar, there were only a few meager offerings. It was honestly a bit disconcerting.

Still, she knelt and started going through the prayers with the same dedication that she did for Athena and Hephaestus, the words rolling easily off her lips. When she was done, she stayed kneeling.

“I don’t know if you’re actually listening,” Felicity said. “But- this is just...I need help. I need advice, and...well, you’re supposed to be the most beautiful goddess. If anyone could understand what I’m going through, it’d probably be you.”

Felicity sighed. “I just- it’s going on a decade now, people never seeing past the surface when they look at me. And it’s _lonely_. I just want there to be someone- _anyone_ \- who’ll look past my body.”

“Please, Aphrodite- I’m begging you,” she said, then slowly stood up and walked out of the temple. She’d intended to go straight back home, but as she was passing a side street, she saw something in her peripheral vision.

Even as she turned to look, Felicity knew what she’d find- the shrine dedicated to her. Still, she couldn’t help but collapse onto her knees in shock- seeing it right in front of her, looking better and more attended than _Aphrodite’s temple_ , was enough to make Felicity start hyperventilating. 

Once she’d managed to calm down, Felicity started running through her options. The law definitely wouldn’t help her- the temples had strict rules regarding civil interference, so any legal options to get rid of the shrine would take more time and patience than she was willing to spare. She couldn’t even really do anything much _illegal_ either- her skillset was not very applicable in this situation.

The best she could do was probably discourage people from visiting the shrine. With that in mind, she started walking away from Temple Hill- she had work to do.

Felicity was back at home and asleep when people started going to Temple Hill. If she’d been awake- or watching- she probably would have enjoyed the gobsmacked expressions of everyone who saw the giant banner that hung in front of her shrine: “Next time, pray to an actual goddess”.


	3. Chapter 3

Aphrodite was one of the few deities that didn’t shapeshift, and it wasn’t entirely clear whether that was because she physically couldn’t, or whether she just didn’t want to. In either case, it wasn’t exactly a problem- no matter who a person was or wasn’t attracted to, almost everyone was attracted to Aphrodite.

Oliver, thankfully, was not even remotely attracted to his mother. It would definitely be beyond creepy- he’d been around during the whole Oedipus debacle, and no one wanted a repeat of that, especially between two deities. To Oliver, Aphrodite was not the head-turning goddess of beauty and love, but just Moira, his mother.

As such, when he saw her standing in the courtyard, a smile broke out on his face, and he pumped his wings a little harder. Oliver liked having his own house, but he missed seeing his mother every day. He landed- a bit more roughly than usual- in front of his mother, and pulled her into a hug.

“If I’d known you were coming, I would’ve come back earlier and made you something,” Oliver said.

“Oh, I can’t stay- Walter’s making me dinner,” Moira replied. “I just needed to ask you a favor.”

“What is it?” Oliver asked.

“There’s a mortal,” she said. “Her name’s Felicity Lance, and she’s apparently the most beautiful person alive, and I wouldn’t mind that so much if people weren’t neglecting to worship me in favor of her. But she recently begged me to help, and she actually doesn’t seem to like being worshipped, so I decided to take mercy on her and actually help her. All you need to do is make sure she meets and falls in love with someone who will, in her words, see past the surface.”

After a few seconds, Oliver asked, “That’s it?”

“Yes,” Moira replied. “Although it would be appreciated if you do this quickly, and that whoever she ends up with is a bit of a recluse.”

“That sounds easy enough,” Oliver said. “I’ll get on that as soon as possible.”

“Thank you, dear,” his mother replied as she leaned up to kiss his cheek. “I’ll see you later.”

“Give Walter my regards,” Oliver replied before his mother transported herself back to her home.

Oliver stood in the empty courtyard for a few more seconds before heading inside. His first stop was the armory, where he dropped off his bow and quiver, then continued on to the kitchen, where he could hear the sounds of people cooking and talking. When he walked into the kitchen, he saw Raisa, his housekeeper, cooking, while Roy leaned against a counter.

Oliver took in the scene for a few seconds before Roy looked up and spotted him. “Hey Dad,” he said. “Dinner’s almost ready, apparently.”

“Good, I’m hungry,” Oliver replied. “And you’ve actually got a pretty short list tonight.”

Roy nodded. “After I’m done, I’m going to Verdant,” he said. “There’s supposed to be a really cool human dj there tonight.”

Oliver grunted noncommittally in response. He’d told Roy over a century ago that he didn’t need to ask permission to go out, and while Roy had taken that to heart, he still either told Oliver what his plans were or left a note. It was nice that his son was doing that- at his age, Oliver certainly hadn’t. As much as he loved his mother, in hindsight, she’d allowed him a lot more freedom than he did with Roy.

To be perfectly honest, Oliver had never really intended to be a parent- well, specifically, to actually have to take on the responsibility of raising a child. He knew that he’d been a father multiple times- he’d slept around enough to have a few accidental kids, and condoms hadn’t really existed until a very short while ago- but all of his other kids had been pretty ordinary mortals. The only indication of their paternity was the fact that they were all unusually attractive people.

Roy had been different. Even though he’d never helped raise any of his previous children, he’d always checked in on them, and if needed, helped them or their families. He’d watched- invisibly- as Roy’s mother had given birth to him, and had almost gone corporeal with shock when he’d seen the faint etchings on his back that would turn into wings in a few years.

He’d known that he’d have to take in Roy when his wings started showing, but he couldn’t figure out how. Humans wouldn’t be able to see Roy’s wings until they started growing, at which point Roy would probably be shunned as a monster by the people he grew up with. However, as much as he might have wanted to, he couldn’t just swoop in and take the boy.

He needn’t have worried- the tapestry that the Fates spun laid out quite a neat picture, where the village Roy grew up in was attacked and almost everyone was killed just as his wings started to grow. Roy had been seriously injured in the attack, and after near-ceaseless petitioning, Roy’s thread had been changed from the red of a mortal to the gold of a god. 

That had been about five centuries ago, and when Oliver took him in, he taught Roy what it meant to be a god, and how draw his wings into his body so that they looked like tattoos, and even started training him as his assistant. Hey- shooting arrows into people’s hearts all day was tiring, and Roy had a gift for archery, so making him Oliver’s assistant was quite a logical idea, really.

Roy was done eating before Oliver, excusing himself with a quick “Goodnight” before rushing off to find his own suit and bow and arrows, as well as the list of his targets. 

When Oliver was finished eating, he wandered around outside for a little bit before heading inside to the library. A few decades ago, Walter had been going on and on about something called “the internet” that humans had come up with, and in an effort to placate him, Oliver had agreed to let Walter install a computer to help him and Roy with coming up with a easier way to look up their targets.

Oliver had been skeptical at first, but the computer- and its ability to look up information about basically anyone- had actually been quite useful. He really didn’t know exactly how it worked, but that wasn’t his job- right now, he was going to look more into Felicity Lance.


End file.
